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Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy says Chris Wideman's trash talk played a role in Game 5 rally

Author of the article:

Ken Warren • Ottawa Citizen

Publishing date:

April 22, 2017 • 2 minute read

Boston coach Bruce Cassidy reacts to a "too many men on the ice" penalty in the third period against his team in the third period of Friday's game. Wayne Cuddington/PostmediaWayne Cuddington/ Postmedia

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Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy says Chris Wideman's trash talk played a role in Game 5 rallyBack to video

In what could have been part motivational speech for his own players and/or an attempt to unnerve the Senators, Cassidy said the open-ice hit by Ottawa defenceman Chris Wideman on Boston forward David Krejci — he’s doubtful to play in Game 6 on Sunday – helped inspire his club. The Bruins trailed 2-0 at the time.

“I think when there was the hit on Krejci and they started chirping him, that rankled (Bruins players) a bit,” Cassidy said. “It’s one thing to play hard. It’s another thing … that’s a veteran guy in the NHL, a proven performer … and a young kid (Wideman) starts lipping him. I think that really got to our guys, to be honest. It kind of turned the temperature up in the game from then on.

“That was a break for us in that regard. It’s an unfortunate break that we lose a player, but it got us attention and, from there, I thought we were a pretty good team.”

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Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy vehemently protests a “no-goal” call by the officials during the first overtime period on Friday night.Fred Chartrand/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Whether the hit actually made a difference was subject to debate, but in a game where the Bruins were on the wrong side of a few controversial calls, it also helped serve their argument that they needed to fight through a little bit of everything en route to victory.

Wideman had a rough night. He was on the ice for both Bruins goals in regulation time. The goal that tied the game 2-2 came after Sean Kuraly’s wraparound attempt bounced off Wideman’s skate and past Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

Wideman barely played in the third period and overtime, finishing with 11:19 of ice time as Senators coach Guy Boucher went primarily with Erik Karlsson, Dion Phaneuf, Marc Methot, Ben Harpur and Cody Ceci on defence. It will be interesting to see if Wideman is bumped in favour of Freddy Claesson for Game 6.

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The usually outspoken Boucher had little to say when asked about Wideman’s hit and words, along with Cassidy’s comments.

“I don’t even know anything about that,” Boucher said.

Cassidy became a prominent figure during the game. The Bruins thought they had scored the winning goal earlier in overtime and thought they deserved at least a power play when Senators centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau stopped the puck with his hand near the goal-line.

“All you had to do was look at the (video scoreboard) to see how I felt about it,” Cassidy said later with a smile. “There was a little bit of a composure issue there, but I’m a passionate guy and I felt that they did not go our way, and I voiced my opinion and moved on.”

As the game went on late into the night, he began to feel as if it was going to be the Bruins’ night after all.

“It just seemed liked there was too much,” Cassidy said. “Two breakaway goals, to kill the unnecessary penalties … once you get through some of that, you almost feel like we’re good now. Nothing seemed to break our way. You never know how it was going to turn out, but we weren’t going quietly.”

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